


Only Drowning Men Could See Him

by Tsushi



Series: Pirate AU [1]
Category: Lupin III
Genre: Just a bit of fun, M/M, Pirate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:28:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28372398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsushi/pseuds/Tsushi
Summary: Captain Lupin III falls from his ship and has a strange encounter with a lone sailor.This a pirate AU fic!
Relationships: Ishikawa Goemon XIII/Arsène Lupin III
Series: Pirate AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2077914
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	Only Drowning Men Could See Him

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick one, might have some typos! Sorry!

Lupin felt a shock of alertness as he hit the water. Almost instantly he began to thrash in the waves, the rain was pounding in the water too loud for him to hear anything, even the sound of his own calls for help. The night was inky black, but the whole sky lit up with chains of lightning, followed by deafening thunder.

He tried desperately to keep his head above water, but the sea was tugging his body, his wet clothes felt like iron chains. He must have fallen off the deck in the storm, but in the darkness and noise, even when the lightning gave him the chance he couldn’t see the ship, or hear the crew, or even spot the lantern’s glow on the deck. The way his mind felt fuzzy, he thought he might have hit his head somewhere along the way.

He flailed his arms wildly against the current, his legs kicking, hoping to find anything to grab onto, to float and stabilize. But he found nothing except his own growing desperation.

He stopped being able to keep himself afloat and look for rescue, it wasn’t a conscious effort now, only fear and survival kept him gasping for just one more breath. He felt something twisting around his ankles pulling him under, he kicked against it but his legs barely moved. Too strong, tugging him deeper, he could feel water filling his mouth, his lungs burned. Under the water, a flash from above the surface lit up the still area under the churning waters. He swore the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness, was a mass of tentacles and a strange open eye as big as a man.

—-

He woke again in a small rowboat, face up turned to the warm sunlight, the inside of his mouth sour with salt. A pair of gulls circled, and one bolder than the other, swooped down and landed on the tiny boat.

He lifted his head slowly to see where it had landed, and to his surprise, it was on the hat of a man who sat in the boat with him. Lupin took a slow, even breath, enjoying for a moment of easy access to air and the thrill of still being alive.

Lupin pulled himself into a seated position to take the guy in. Somewhat sallow tanned skin, a scruffy beard, shorter than most pirates he had met. Clenched in his teeth was a pipe, lit and smoking with something that gave off black smoke that flowed out from under a white cap with a brim that seemed slightly too large. He wore a striped shirt, worn trousers and boots, a rough looking overcoat with rolled up sleeves. The man wasn’t rowing them anywhere. They were floating adrift, silence avoided only by the incessant call of the gull still airborne.

“Ahoy there stranger, what’s your name?”

The gull startled at Lupin’s voice and screeched as it lifted off the man’s hat. His brown eyes met Lupin’s and he seemed to have to think hard about the answer. He couldn’t help but watch the odd shape of the black curl of smoke drifting from the pipe.

“Daisuke Jigen.” He finally said, in a rough, deep voice.

“I’m Captain Lupin the Third!” He thrust out a hand to shake, which Jigen then grasped, distinctly. He wrapped his fingers over the top and curled them in. The nails were painted black, and his fingers were slender and long. Lupin laughed it off and tried to ignore the strangeness of the situation.

He noticed that there were oars in the boat, but a glance around, no land and no other ships. Just a man, alone, in a rowboat on the placid surface of the eerily calm ocean. Who would be sitting still in a place without food or shelter on purpose? A paranoid thought tugged at the back of his mind, making him worry that perhaps he hadn’t actually been rescued from a watery grave. A dead man.

“Lucky you found me!” Lupin grinned with some over-exaggerated excitement, picking up the oars himself. “Which way to my ship?”

Jigen pointed a long finger, Lupin saw nothing in any direction, but nevertheless he started to row. Jigen sat quietly, watching him, the gulls went silent, swirled down and rested like ducks on the surface as they made their way slowly to nowhere.

“So where’d you get this boat?” Lupin grunted, between strokes.

“Found it?” The man said in a way that hinted something like a question, as if to ask, rather than make a statement. But it wasn’t a playful sort of question, more urgent.

“Found it?” Lupin repeated.

“Like you. Found it.” Jigen seemed more confident this time.

Lupin was not sure what to say next in the conversation, he had a lot of questions, but none that felt quite right. However as he contemplated the next thing to say, the thin man spoke again.

“Sorry. It’s been awhile since I talked to someone.”

Lupin felt a rush of relief, it was nice to see a bit of vulnerability to cut through the threatening atmosphere. Even more comforting was that he finally could see the top of a sail poking up on the horizon in the direction they were headed.

“It’s fine! Do you want to join my crew?” He grinned at the other man, who smoked, but gave no noticeable sign of changed expression.

“Got anything to drink?” The other man asked.

“On my ship? Sure, yeah. Tons of the stuff.” Lupin boasted slightly.

The man’s expression changed into a toothy, curved grin. His eyes seemed darker, Lupin remembered the giant eye he saw just before he thought he had drowned, pupils oblong and flared to the side.

“Then yes.”

“Well, you did save my life, I at least owe you a drink I think.” Lupin laughed, arms strained a bit as he rowed rhythmically through the dark water.

“I’ll hold you to it.” Jigen replied with the same curled smile.

With the ship finally close enough to recognize, Lupin rowed with more gusto. He was too out of breath to say much else, and Jigen did not seem eager to start more conversation.

As they approached, Goemon called down to him from the deck, he was obviously concerned but trying not to show it.

“Captain!” The samurai and a few other crew tossed down a heavy length of rope to pull the small vessel close enough to help them scale up the side.

“I’m back from the dead!” Lupin announced as he tied some knots with a practiced hand and proceeded to climb the rope swiftly as a spider, leaving Jigen to follow, slowly and with significantly less ease. As Lupin reached the deck, he gave Goemon a tight hug, which was returned, a bit roughly, and greeted the rest of the crew with a cheery tone.

“Everyone missed me very much, right?”

The crew was abuzz with energy, filling him in on the storm that had snapped their mast, and how Lupin had tumbled into the sea after part of the rigging had fallen onto him.

Jigen leaned on the railing behind him, relighting his pipe after he had to put it out for the climb. He blew gently on the flame and flicked his match overboard. He turned and watched Lupin hold all the attention. All the eyes, other than those of one man.

The man dressed differently from the rest who carried a long thin sword holstered at his waist. His face was creased with a scowl, brown skin darkened further in the parts that had seen frequent sun and cheeks chapped from the salt-spray. His dark brown eyes were focused past Lupin’s somewhat exaggerated story about his near death experience and suspiciously locked on Jigen.

Jigen tilted up the brim of his hat to give the swordsman what he hoped was a friendly human smile. It had been quite some time since he had attempted such an expression, he had to hope he pulled it off.

Goemon interrupted Lupin mid-lie about swimming on the back of a shark, “Captain. Who is that?”

“Oh him? That’s Jigen. He’s joining the crew.”

“I see.” Goemon returned sourly.

“Be nice okay? Jigen saved me.” Lupin said, somewhat to the crew, but mainly to Goemon.

“I did. I found him after he rode the shark,” Jigen added with a smirk, which Lupin was quick to mirror.

“After the shark yes.” Lupin continued his delightful tall tale. But Goemon was clearly not yet satisfied. He watched Jigen, and the strangely twisting plume of black smoke.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks goes to various Lupin Twitter folks making great art of spooky Kraken Jigen, but especially ruupan for all their wonderful enthusiasm lol


End file.
